Amount to Feed
The amount of food to feed a fish depends on several factors, including the size of their mouths and stomachs. Martin Moe is the father of marine fish breeding. I once asked him if a good indicator of the size of a fish’s stomach was the size of their eyes, and if that was a good indicator of the proper portion size. In other words, the size of a fish’s eyes indicates the size of the meal portion. He thought that made sense. Of course this assumes that you are feeding for health, growth and breeding, not simply to maintain size.
There are several ways to estimate the proper amount of food. You calculate proper the AMOUNT of food by:
1. Does not go over the overflow before it is consumed
2. Eaten within certain period, say five or ten minutes
3. Each fish gets some food
4. Squabbling begins (fish more interested in social hierarchy fighting than food)
5. Body size
6. Eye size, described above
7. Estimated body weight
8. The size of the mouth
9. Feces appear (fish has enough to digest)
10. Stomach appears full
11. Fish spitting out serving
12. Changes in nitrogen cycle
13. Fish ignore offering
14. Fish holds food in mouth, doesn’t swallow
15. An arbitrarily set amount, like a pinch or two, with no rational basis
Please choose all that apply and let me know if there are others I didn’t think of.
The amount of food to feed a fish depends on several factors, including the size of their mouths and stomachs. Martin Moe is the father of marine fish breeding. I once asked him if a good indicator of the size of a fish’s stomach was the size of their eyes, and if that was a good indicator of the proper portion size. In other words, the size of a fish’s eyes indicates the size of the meal portion. He thought that made sense. Of course this assumes that you are feeding for health, growth and breeding, not simply to maintain size.
There are several ways to estimate the proper amount of food. You calculate proper the AMOUNT of food by:
1. Does not go over the overflow before it is consumed
2. Eaten within certain period, say five or ten minutes
3. Each fish gets some food
4. Squabbling begins (fish more interested in social hierarchy fighting than food)
5. Body size
6. Eye size, described above
7. Estimated body weight
8. The size of the mouth
9. Feces appear (fish has enough to digest)
10. Stomach appears full
11. Fish spitting out serving
12. Changes in nitrogen cycle
13. Fish ignore offering
14. Fish holds food in mouth, doesn’t swallow
15. An arbitrarily set amount, like a pinch or two, with no rational basis
Please choose all that apply and let me know if there are others I didn’t think of.
